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Monday, July 19, 2010

Peter Schiff, economic advisor to Ron Paul's presidential campaign and son of Irwin Schiff, appeared on the Alex Jones show Monday July 12th to discuss his campaign for the U.S. Senate in the Connecticut Republican primary. At minute 39 in the third hour of the program , Jones asked Schiff about some comments he had made late last year regarding Iran's possible developlent of nuclear weapons. Explaining that he does not want to invade and occupy Iran, Schiff nevertheless stated once again that if Iran developed a nuclear weapon, the U.S. should use its' military might to bomb the facility and "blow the place up'".

In December 2009 Infowars featured an article entitled Peter Schiff Advocates Neocon Foreign Policy which stated in part, "Schiff is advocating the same foreign policy as the Bush administration neocons. If he sincerely believes in neocon gunboat diplomacy, the people should not allow him to enter government".

Schiff expanded on his comments in response to Jones contention that Schiff would have gotten a lot more enthusiastic support if he would have taken a more libertarian position. In defense of his comments, Schiff absurdly implied that rescinding his remarks about bombing Iran would be akin to not wanting any national defense:

"I've got to win a Republican primary, I can't appear as if I don't want any national defense. I don't think a nuclear Iran is something we should allow. The terrorists are not rational. They're willing to die for a cause. If we know for sure, for sure, if theyre developing a nuclear weapon..."

Jones tried to pointed out that the U.S. government has repeatedly lied about other countries having weapons of mass destruction and that information involving Iran would likely be unreliable propaganda at best, a point that seemed to be lost on Schiff.
"I understand your view i dont agree with it", Jones said, adding that he agrees with Ron Paul's position, and that "if we try to be friends with Iran that this wouldnt be an issue..."

Schiff seemed to become extremely agitated with the ongoing line of questioning and spoke in a rapid and annoyed manner, claiming that the charges levied against him by critics were 'crazy'.

"If I was going to take a position that a nuclear Iran was okay with me, I couldn't get elected.

"...I'm going to Washington to start a war? That's crazy."

".. we want to wait until Iran actually drops a nuclear weapon , smuggles it into a major american city , murders millions of people, and then we'll respond. That is not the credible policy for a senate candidate, I don't think."

The entire exchange can be heard here, with the line of questioning starting after minute 39.

Ron Paul supporters at the DailyPaul.com and Ron Paul forums were largely critical of Schiff's remarks at the time he made them.

On the issues page of his campaign website, Schiff writes "We should make national defense the federal government's top priority by ending its involvement in other areas not authorized by the Constitution. Let's truly have a policy of national defense, not national offense".